Little time left on Bradley clock

By Richard Benedetto, USA TODAY

NEW YORK - Bill Bradley, whose campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination
suffered a possibly fatal blow with his losses to Vice President Gore in Super Tuesday's
voting, was upbeat and positive most of the day.

"I'm feeling good. I think there will be some surprises today," he declared.

Those "surprises" never came, however, as word arrived from exit polls and TV
networks that New York, Georgia, Ohio, Vermont and most of the New England states were
going to Gore. Exit polls also showed Gore far ahead in the biggest state of all,
California.

Even Democrats in Bradley's home state of Missouri voted overwhelmingly for the vice
president.

At the Bradley headquarters in the Sheraton New York Hotel, one block from the bright
lights of Broadway and 17 blocks from Madison Square Garden, site of some of Bradley's
greatest triumphs as a star for the New York Knicks, the mood of his campaign aides was
one of resignation as the bad news kept coming.

In a signal they saw the end, they passed out "Bill Bradley" baseball caps to
members of the traveling press corps. A surging campaign wouldn't be handing out such
souvenirs. A rhythm-and-blues band tried to keep sagging spirits up.

Unconfirmed reports began to circulate that Bradley would drop out of the race Wednesday
or Thursday. His staff had to address the talk.

"Come what may, we will not be dropping out this evening," said Eric Hauser,
Bradley's spokesman, shortly before polls began closing.

Before Tuesday evening, reporters traveling with the Bradley campaign had been told today
would be an "off day," when the candidate would get some rest and that
campaigning would resume Thursday in Florida, where there's a primary next Tuesday. But
that appears to be on hold.

Al From, leader of the centrist Democratic Leadership Council, said that more than
anything else, Bradley failed to catch on with Democratic voters because he couldn't offer
"a compelling reason" they should abandon the vice president to embrace him.

"The fundamentals - a good economy and an approach to government more in tune to
where most voters are - were all on Gore's side."

Also, From said, Bradley tried to mount a challenge from the liberal left, a wing of the
Democratic Party far weaker than it was when Bill Clinton ran in 1992. Bradley's calls for
sweeping health-care reform, a doubling of spending on education, holding the line on
defense and spending more to eliminate child poverty had only limited appeal.

But Bradley came away a winner in the eyes of many of the high school and college students
that he talked to during his campaign.

The Princeton-educated former Rhodes Scholar was never more in his element than when he
was talking to a student or a crowd at a youth center. In such settings, he appeared
relaxed, energized and eager to engage in questions and answers.

On the few occasions when the former basketball star donned sweatpants and sneakers and
shot hoops with the school teams - boys and girls - the crowds went crazy.

Rather than give the youngsters a rah-rah pitch for votes or attack his opponent, Bradley
quietly but firmly talked with them about the importance of the values of honesty,
loyalty, hard work, tolerance, respect for elders, racial justice and concern for the less
fortunate.

"Those who love you are watching you and are expecting the greatest from you,"
he told a hushed audience Monday at the Bronx High School of Law, Government and Justice.

That was Bradley's last full day of campaigning before Super Tuesday. He might have been
talking about himself and his expected demise when he said, "Discipline yourself so
that you will know . . . whatever abilities God gave you, you have made the most of them
and you didn't fail to become what you could have become because you didn't work hard
enough."